Problems with antivirus software. How do I check there aren't any viruses?

June 10, 2008 3:30 PM

I think my computer might have a virus. Are there any trustworthy security testing services that I can use to conclusively prove whether or not this is the case?

I've owned my current laptop for less than a year, and as far as I can remember, I activated my copy of Norton Anti-virus when I first got the laptop. Unfortunately NAV decided to switch itself off last week and then it demanded that I entered the activatation code for the software; I couldn't complete the activation process because the anti-virus software wouldn't detect my internet connection.

The weird thing is the anti-virus software has started working again and Liveupdate claims that it was run yesterday, but it still displays a message saying that I'll need to activate the software within a certain number of days (before it just switched off and said that I needed to activate the software immediately).

I'm worried that this weirdness from the anti-virus is an indicator that some malware has got onto my computer.

Are there any reputable security testing companies that I can use to garauntee with 100% certainty that there's no malware on my computer? Also, how do I get someone else to scan the computer without allowing them the opportunity to copy my personal data?

posted by Jack Alucard to computers & internet (7 comments total)

If you don't think NAV is working, why dont you uninstall it and install another antivirus, such as NOD32 or AVG?
posted by wongcorgi at 3:39 PM on June 10, 2008

I tend to find NAV more annoying and counterproductive than a real virus. Why not try wongcorgi's method?
posted by rooftop secrets at 4:03 PM on June 10, 2008

Trend micro housecall is a free online virus checker that is very good. It downloads some files then scans your system, all of which can take a while. But it doesn't install onto your machine or copy your files anywhere. This means you always get an up to date scan (i.e. all the libraries etc are current) but also means you get no ongoing protection. It sounds like it would be very useful in your situation though.

Housecall can't guarantee that it will catch 100% of anything simply because no software can. But tests I've seen in PC World rank it highly and it will do as good as or better than any other virus checker. It's certainly a good addition to anything other software you're using and would be a good start to check out your problems.
posted by shelleycat at 4:22 PM on June 10, 2008

Are there any reputable security testing companies that I can use to garauntee with 100% certainty that there's no malware on my computer?

I'm not aware of any service like this.

NAV IS a virus, by almost any meaningful measure. But you can use it to build a virus scan boot disk with current virus definitions. Use this to see if your machine is infected.

If it isn't, uninstall NAV and use AVG or NOD32 instead - they tend to suck less. But more importantly, don't log in with an administrator account.

Once you take that crucial step, malware infection becomes significantly less likely.
posted by me & my monkey at 4:25 PM on June 10, 2008

OK, my virus scan boot disk link won't be helpful for XP or Vista. Try this instead.

The problem with using an online scanner like Housecall is that, if your machine is compromised, it can tell the scanner whatever it likes.
posted by me & my monkey at 4:42 PM on June 10, 2008

www.free-av.com

AntiVir is free for personal use and detects the majority of malware. I find it catches more non-virus malware than AVG.
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:19 PM on June 10, 2008

"Conclusively"? No. Virus and anti-virus is a running war, and new viruses come out all the time. The anti-virus side in the war is always a step behind, sometimes a lot more than that.

There are a lot of tools which can prove that you don't have any virus which has been "in the wild" for at least three months, but no one can prove that you aren't the first person to be infected with a new one.

So there's no "conclusive" proof. The best you can do is "pretty certain".
posted by Class Goat at 8:01 PM on June 10, 2008